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Category: photos

One of the very few upsides of being unemployed for long periods of time is that I’ve had the time and inclination to DIY lots of stuff. In the past year I’ve made ridiculous amounts of origami, did all my wedding flowers, started cutting my own hair, redecorated on the cheap, and put together all sorts of things that were not intended by the original manufacturers. It’s really nice, actually, and most of the things I’ve done are simple and easily Google-able. I get a sense of accomplishment when I’ve made something with my own hands – double if it works! I’m not the most traditionally crafty upcycled tool in the shed.

Everyone has one of those rooms in their houses – that small, dark room you can’t do anything with. That room is my study/guest room, and despite my decorating efforts, it still felt cold and uninviting. It has a perfectly comfy futon and I deliberately put some books in there so it would turn into a reading space, but that never happened. Until, on a whim, I thought of the next step…

That’s right – a reading fort!

I’ve never grown out of my childlike love for forts and hideaways. I’ve always loved being in small, warm, spaces – on the inside looking out. Some might say that it’s a subconscious desire to return to the womb – they may be right, but I’m not sure my Mum would like that very much.

Apologies for the quality of the photo, but I’ve installed a great floor lamp in there as well – just one I had literally sitting around. I have no idea why I hadn’t thought of it before. On the other wall I also have fairy lights, and I’m considering getting more to go in my fort. You can see I have some art on the walls, and just out of shot is a bookcase. I have lots of cushions and a blanket on the futon, and it’s perfect. And all it is is some spare fabric I had lying around, strung up with spare embroidery thread and masking tape. As simple as you can get, and equally precarious. If it is still up by morning, it will be a miracle.

On the other wall is my desk and chair, and lots of postcards. I’m getting a sewing machine in the next couple of weeks, so my base of operations will probably be there. I might see if I can get some awesome stickers to deface my black and white desk as well.

P.S. I might be beginning a wonderful collaboration soon. More details to come!

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Sometimes, when I feel in a creative rut, what I like to do is redecorate my house. I love interiors and such and I always have great fun doing it. I’ve recently redone some of my house, and am slowly working room by room. So I wanted to show you the fruits of my labour:

My bedroom. Apologies for the lack of white balance, but the storage drawers (which are awesome) are hot pink and match my rug. Notice our respective Pillow Pets – Thomas for Chris, Caterpillar (Hungry) for me. Yes, we are three years old.

More storage! I decided to liven up my wardrobe by making panels out of cheap wrapping paper. Didn’t turn out too badly! Notice my awesome dinosaur backpack (which glows in the dark, thank you very much).

This is a whiteboard I found, that’s just cardboard with laminate. It’s handy for writing notes and silly things. On there, I wrote ‘I love you’ in Elvish. Yes, yes, I know. The paper heart above it is a decoration my sister-in-law made for our engagement party.

I’ve just redone the bathroom, too. Lovely new shower curtain and storage drawers. Even though you can’t see too clearly, the current colour scheme is hot pink and red. The lovely red orchid on the window is artifical – me keeping a real one alive would never happen!

So, that’s what I’ve been up to for the past couple of days. I’m hoping to work on my dining room/kitchen next, and I have to clean my study up. Anyone know where to find nice table runners?

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I was privileged enough to get up on a glorious sunny morning and go for a walk in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens. I went primarily through the Camellia Garden, past the Fernery, through the Palm Garden down to the Oriental Garden and back up to the Spring Walk to Woolloomooloo Gate. You’ll see camellias, tulips, sakura, Japanese roses, and wistaria (never can resist a good wistaria) amongst many other things. I also managed to snap some wildlife – waterhens, ducks, ibis, a cockatoo, flying foxes and a wee dragonfly! There is also the obligatory Sydney Harbour shot too. It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning! As always, click on the pics to see more.

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So, I may have mentioned that I bought a lomo camera at the beginning of the year. I have a Golden Half, which takes photos in half-exposures. It’s a great little camera, except the main expense in working on film is getting the bastard developed. There’s a lab near me but who wants to pay $20 a roll? (And they’re arseholes, too.)

Anyway. I scanned a couple of my favourite photos to show you how it turned out. I’m incredibly pleased. The half-exposures is so fun, except it’s hard to remember where you might be on a particular frame. If you want two certain photos together, you just have to hope! I haven’t shot on film for about ten years, so I wondered (I did have a very embarrassing camera-cord-in-frame shot, but let’s not talk about that) how it would go. My scanner is pretty shit so unfortunately it looks fuzzier and duller than it really is.

I think it’s interesting how it seems out of focus on the edges, which makes it look quite dreamy.

This is a nice shot near where I live. It was quite a rainy spell so everything was lush and green.

I love this one! This was from the Sydney Zombie March March (Sydney has two zombie marches a year, around March and October). Unfortunately film tends to be a little dark, but I love the focus on the witch in the upper frame, and little zombie Snow White in the lower. Everything else is reduced to blood-streaked flashes and shadows. This one was incredibly lucky.

I took a series of my boyfriend and I dicking around in his lovely backyard. This is probably my favourite photo of us two, ever.

This is my favourite of all the Half shots. The lovely garden on the left, a tender moment on the right (and yes, I did take the one on the right! Lucky aim!).

The Half works pretty well with movement, which is rather nice. I would think that my train was going perhaps 60km/h at the time.

This is my favourite experiment ever! As I said, the cost of processing the film is a little prohibitive (any Sydneysiders, advice would be appreciated) so that puts me off continuing. But I really like the results, and I’d like to see what the full capabilities of my little plastic camera are.

In other exciting news, Chris’ comic series has been nominated for a Golden Stapler award for Best Collaborative Zine! I’m hoping to attend the glittering awards ceremony at the This Is Not Art festival. Hopefully I’ll see you there.

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In 2007/2008 I lived in Surrey, about 40 mins from London. I love Britain immensely, but I returned home because I was poor, was unhappy with my living situation, and I was silly enough to fall in love with a boy back home. Though everything turned out well (I’m happy in Sydney, have money, and I’m marrying that boy), I do miss Britain, and I loved the few places I got to see while I was there.